Movie review – “Cars” (2004) ***

Entertaining if formulaic Pixar cartoon, a bit more boysie than the others because it's about cars. There's a hero, he's cocky, gets redemption via a Yoda figure, etc - straight out of Chris Vogler. Some hilarious gags - tipping over tractors is pretty funny. But what is so great about the small town?

Movie review – “High Noon” (1952) ****

Excellent Western, best seen without commercials so you can enjoy the increasing suspense. A musical theme song was rarely used better, ditto Gary Cooper's weakness (uncertain, old, scared, still able to get a hot wife). The supporting cast are full of rich, different characters - the bitter untalented deputy (Lloyd Bridges); the world-weary-but-decent-and-smart Mexican lady (Katy Jurando); the nasty inn keepers wanting the outlaws to come back; the anxious townsfolk (including Thomas Mitchell); the drunken ex sheriff (Lon Chaney Jnr); the decent farmer who doesn't want to die. Very believable and entertainingl

Script review – “Annie Hall” by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman dated Feb 8, 1976

A great deal of the credit of Allen's masterpiece was given to the editor but a lot of the brilliance was there on the page. There's some fascinating differences with the final film, although the tone is the same – we visit the house of Donald, one of his childhood classmates; a fantasy scene with a game show where the host breaks down; flashback to Alvy at college; a different ending (Annie goes out with an Alvy look alike). Reading it you feel it's the sort of movie where the editing would help a lot - more organic, natural. Maybe that's what has inspired Allen to make films from scripts that weren't ready.

Script review – “Bullets Over Broadway” by Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath

An absolutely wonderful script – bright, fast paced, logical, well structured, funny, even moving (the involvement of Cheech, the playwright’s realisation that he’s not talented) and with something to say (about the nature of art and collaboration). It doesn't have a traditional hero - it starts off as the playwright but ends up about the gangster - but that makes it more unpredictable. I loved it - why doesn't Woody collaborate more often?

Movie review – “The Green Hornet” (2010) **1/2

Few writers are better at getting into the heads of a twelve year old boy than Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, which is the take of this superhero adaptation. Rogen’s lead may be a millionaire but he’s mostly into doing cool stuff with his cool friend (eg build gadgets, disguises). Rogen and Jay Cho (as Kato) never have the easy camaraderie that say the boys in Superbad do – the fact is, Kato is still an employee. And what’s Cameron Diaz doing in this film? She’s too old and not believable as a potential love interest of either. Some terrific production design and clever action sequences, and this is probably the best version of this story these guys could have come up with, but it didn’t quite work.

TV review – “Veronica Mars” – Season 2 (2007) ****

I was afraid this would suffer the sophomore slump because so much of Season 1 touched on events which took place before the pilot episode, and surely they wouldn’t kill off another best friend of Veronica? (I was worried for Wallace). But the writers get around it brilliantly by killing off a whole bunch of random students on a bus, ensuring this series has the gravitas of season 1. Funny, witty - plenty of great lines for Logan but also people like Charisma Carpenter. Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) steps up. Plenty of emotional depth too. Wonderful show.

Radio review- Lux – “The Seventh Veil” (1948) **

Robert Montgomery is completely out of his element in the James Mason role as the possessive cruel music teacher who is loved by young Ingrid Bergman. I would have thought Bergman would be ideal as the masochistic pupil but something about her performance isn’t right – maybe it’s just playing against miscast Montgomery. (Couldn’t they have gotten Charles Laughton or Vincent Price or someone with a bigger presence?) The story remains a fascinating stew of messed up sexual politics. A South African starlet in Hollywood on a screen test, Joan Forsyth or something, chats at the break.

Movie review - The Spy in Black (1939) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s wartime films were notable for the number of sympathetic German characters – none more so than this. Conrad Veidt is a brave, decent, smart German submarine captain who leads a plot to attack the British fleet in the Orkneys during World War I. He works with two British traitors, one a disgraced sea captain (someone called Sebastian Shaw – a bland anonymous type), the other an agent impersonating a school teacher (Valerie Hobson). Veidt falls for Hobson but then around two thirds of the way in we discover she and the guy are actually British agents. Veidt rallies himself and almost pulls off a coup. He’s really the most admirable person in the film.

I thought Valerie Hobson was bad in Bride of Frankenstein but she’s really good here and Veidt is a different sort of villain. (Britain was supposed to be an insular society in the 30s and 40s but they had a number of "foreign" stars eg Veidt, Anton Woolbrook.

It’s enormously enjoyable, very well made, with skilled used of location/stock footage, a creepy atmosphere and solid performances. The last third, where Shaw is heroic, is less fun - you find yourself feeling sorry for Veidt because he's fallen in love with Hobson. It’s a long time for us to think the leads are baddies.

NB Incidentally no one seems to comment that this film owes a considerable debt to Dark Journey, another World War I spy tale with Conrad Veidt and a sexy, class dame (in that case Vivien Leigh) from Alex Korda.

Movie review – “Middle of the Night” (1959) **1/2

A very flawed work – miscasting, dodgy sexual politics, overlong running time, and more method acting than you can poke a stick at. But it compels, this viewer at least – partly because Hollywood just doesn’t make serious, angsty dramas anymore. And there’s some beautiful Paddy Chayefsky writing – arias and angst, the fear of again, pain of love, etc. Also it’s fascinating to see something so old school New York - black and white, location shooting, method acting, acting and acting.

Whenever I watch Frederic March I always wish someone else played the role but he’s not too bad and is better looking that Edward G Robinson. He acts all over the place, but not as much as Kim Novak, who varies from effective to dreadful, often in the same sentence.

The plot concerns their romance – she’s a divorcee, whose marriage to a musician basically constituted sex (the film’s acknowledgement and discussion of sex is striking for the time), a bit of an idiot and a child in many ways. She falls for her widowed boss who is paranoid about losing her. You kind of buy it because Novak comes across as dumb and needy.

I remember Paddy Chayefsky’s original play being more solid, building to a climax with a simple structure – this tends to repeat itself (doubt, doubt and more doubt). There’s a fine cast of New York actors in support, most of whom get the chance to ACT! themselves including Lee Grant, Lee Phillip and Martin Balsam.

Movie review – “Ordinary People” (1981) ***1/2

Who said WASPS can’t make good dramatic stories? There’s a lot of repression, stillness and politeness on display here, which makes the sudden explosions of shouting all the more effective. I can vouch for it’s accuracy: the shy, guilt-ridden son (Tim Hutton found the rest of his career anti-climactic); the happy mother forever playing golf and afraid of embarrassment, the decent dad trying to do the right thing and totally over his head. Some took issue with Mom being the villain, but she’s not a complete bitch and something had to give this a third act and climax. Beautifully done (Donald Sutherland gives another good performance), if overlong. I think you could say that about most films Robert Redford directs. Elizabeth McGovern launched her career as a wafty dreamgirl with this.

Radio review – BP – “The Petrified Forrest” (1952) ***

Cyrill Ritchard stars as Alan Squires, with no one else famous, so the piece is geared to him. We have a lot more wafty dialogue with the waitress and talk of philosophy, less Duke Mantee. It’s not as exciting but the central situation so strong, the characters so vivid, that it still holds.

Movie review - "Gidget Goes to Rome” (1962) **

Yet another Gidget, Cindy Carol, who is pretty (especially in a fantasy sequence where she imagines being thrown to the lions) and tries, but isn’t as engaging. She’s not helped by the fact that the film ignores two laws of Gidget films (well they should have been laws) – men don’t fawn all over her and there’s hardly any beach action.

She and her friends, including Moondoggie, go off to Rome. Moondoggie (James Darren, the only actor to appear in all three films apart from Joby Baker) falls for the hot Italian tour guide quite seriously and Gidget falls for a dashing Italian (Cesare Danova) who’s been asked to look after her by her father (Don Porter who played that role in the TV series). But the Italian is married with a family – why do that and not have him a single guy who is tempted, like Cliff Robertson in the original Gidget? I’m guessing they wanted to break Gidget’s heart – but it’s depressing, and goes against the wish fulfilment notion of these films. And it’s kind of nasty that Moondoggie is chasing after this Italian in front of her when they haven’t officially broken up. Moondoggie proposes, Gidget throws herself at a married man – both get rejected so they get back with each other, rather than go of their own free will. It’s depressing (if realistic). Mind you, the Italian tour guide is much hotter than Gidge.

There is some pretty traveloging of Rome, and some satire of the international set over there (rich women, poets, etc). Jesse Royce Landis is funny as the group’s chaperone and among the teen friends include Trudi Ames, who was Ann Margaret’s friend in Bye Bye Birdie, and Joby Baker. Darren gets to sing a little and speak Italian, but looks bored, totally not into Gidget.

Script review – “Bachelor Party” by Neal Israel, Pat Proft

Loved this when it came out – but then I was eleven. It’s not as funny now but the basic idea is still strong – party guy decides to get married. It worked on film because there was an essential decency about Tom Hanks which made you root for him.

The script has two subplots in particular which aren’t in the final film: a scene where Tom Hanks gets a blow job under a table as he talks to a priest (isn’t that still cheating?) and a whole subplot where the Hispanic mechanic chases after a hooker who winds up winning a beauty pageant. Both good deletions.

Movie review – “Beastly” (2010) **

Teen retread of Beauty and the Beast, with an extra gimmick in that we see the beast in handsome mode at the beginning. He’s played by Alex Pettyfer, who Hollywood keep trying to push as a star, as an arrogant popular high school student who has a curse placed on him by one of the Olsen twins. That’s a good start, as is his dad pushing him out of sight in an apartment (i.e. castle) and Vanessa Hudgens is on hand as a girl who just needs to be rescued. 

 

The ideas then run out – this whole subplot about drug dealers after Hudgens’ dad is set up and then ignored, Mary Kate Olsen floats in and out of the story as it’s convenient,and would Hudgens want him if he wasn’t handsome etc etc.

Movie review – “Away We Go” (2009) **

Sam Mendes goes indie – so there’s an aimless road trip plot, a lot of quirk, guitar tunes on the soundtrack - although they had enough money to actually go all over the country. His name was obviously catnip to actors – there’s Maggie Gyllenhaal, Alison Janney, Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Melanie Lynski. Enjoyable enough if you're in the mood, but you have to be in the mood.

Radio review – BP – “The Male Animal” (1952) **1/2

Comedy about American academia from someone called Elliot Nugent who also stars – he plays a married nerdish professor who is visited by a former football player, an ex-beau of his wife. There’s another plot about academic freedom – he wants to use a letter written by an anarchist as a study tool. Amiable enough. Martha Scott co-stars.

Radio review – TG – “Still Life” (1947) ***

It takes a while to get used to hearing this very English story relocated to American, especially with Ingrid Bergman in the female lead. Bergman always had this persona of a woman comfortable falling in love with someone other than her husband, on screen and off, so you don’t get the sense it’s as massive upheaval for her in the way it was for Celia Johnson. It's still beautifully written though. Sam Wanamaker is the guy.

Movie review – “Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation” (1962) ***

James Stewart prolonged his career as a star with some amiable family comedies – after Mad Men it’s fun to revisit these tales of commuting businessmen with their stresses, beautiful housewives and bratty boomer children. But it’s got a universal theme – parents going on holidays with kids, struggling to connect with them – and a good script from Nunnally Johnson. The plot is a series of sequences, with Stewart trying to do the right thing by his kids: worrying about his 14 year old daughter (Laurie Peters) with braces get a dance, taking his young son on a boat trip that goes wrong, sucking up to his son in law's prospective boss, dealing with another irritating son in law (John Saxon). He also has some adult plots: being jealous of a man paying attention to his wife (Maureen O'Hara), and having a stacked blonde pay attention to him.

Some funny lines and a surprising amount of honesty - I'm surprised Steve Martin hasn't remade this. Fabian is billed third after Stewart and O'Hara but doesn't have a massive role - it's not a bad part, as a guy Stewart bribes to dance with his daughter but who ends up liking her. (She's only 14 - he's a little old for her and it's very easy to make fun of this plot). He sings a duet with Peters who can actually sing. Solid performances from everyone else - O'Hara doesn't have much to do, it's really Stewart's film.

Movie review – “Pin Up Girl” (1944) **1/2

By this stage 20th Century Fox knew that if they had Betty Grable in a musical all they needed was colour, a couple of talented support comics, a silly plot and some numbers. Her leading man in this is the famously anonymous Joe Harvey – he’s actually not that bad in an aw gee 50s sitcom kind of way, if not a movie star. The plot has Betty Grable romancing him (he’s a war hero) then pretending to be a secretary so he won’t think she’s a liar – he doesn’t recognise her because she wears glasses.

Zanuck must have known it was a lame set up but I guess they didn’t mind in war time. He threw in a very solid support cast – Eugene Palette, Martha Scott, Joe E. Brown. It has colour and movement and Grable. She doesn't show her legs that much.

Movie review – “Dragonwyck” (1946) ***

Joseph Mankiewicz made his directorial debut with this gothic melodrama – Jane Eyre in America with a bit of Gaslight thrown in. Gene Tierney is the innocent who falls for dashing relative Vincent Price – he’s a bit dodgy (rich landlord who exploits his tenants) but better than her boring religious parents (Walter Huston, Ann Revere) so she marries him after his wife dies. Glenn Langan is the Ken Doll “true love” interest – a doctor keen on democracy. Entertaining codswallop with the benefits of being a studio film – strong cast, expensive production design.

Radio review – Lux – “A Tale of Two Cities” (1945) ***1/2

Orson Welles is perfect casting as Sidney Carton – dashing, romantic, self-loathing, ultimately brave. It’s a good version of the classic tale, told in flashback by Carton to the scullery maid just before they get their head chopped off. Dickens ages very well because he was so true to human nature – the French revolution was harsh, so was the time before it, Madam de Farge is the perfect revolutionary – unforgiving, harsh, violent, brave. Welles comes on at the end and talks about his new job writing a column, and his radio show This is My Best. Rosemary de Camp plays the girl.

Movie review – "No Highway in the Sky” (1951) **

Decent plodding British drama from a novel by Nevil Shute, who surely had a film sale in mind when he wrote the charcter of a glamorous film star on the plane whose tail might fall off. She is played here by Marlene Dietrich who has a sort of relationship with boffin James Stewart, the scientist who’s convinced they’re All Going to Die. That’s act two – act three is him trying to prove he’s not crazy for sabotaging the flight, but the thing is that happens off screen due to the actions of others. So in that sense this is more a British film than Hollywood one.

Glynis Johns is the airline hostie who falls for Stewart, seemingly out of pity and loneliness more than anything else. There’s a terrific support cast including Jack Hawkins (just before stardom, as Stewart’s boss) and Kenneth More (a few years before his own stardom). 

 

The best thing about it is the touching relationship between widower Stewart and his nerdy daughter. The most interesting is this weird, unrealistic quasi love triangle involving Johns, Stewart and Dietrich. Two of the writers credited with the screenplay are RC Sherriff and Alec Coppel – it feels more like a Sherriff work than Coppel, although I may be mistaken.

Movie review – “Red Hill” (2010) **1/2 (warning spoilers)

An Aussie Western with some good action and an impressive look but full of silly errors: a town meeting before breakfast, the head of the local police being allowed to speak on political matters, is there so much money to be made out of a railway line that people would kill? You can guess by the fact the escaped killer is aboriginal that he’ll turn out to be not that made – sure enough the true villain is the mean, anti-green cop who shouted down the idea of having a food and wine festival in the town. (This has sort of got the same take on rural people as found in Hannie Rayson’s Inheritance with some season four McLeods Daughters plotting thrown in i.e. the Grampians puma).

Ryan Kwanten is the nominal hero, a bumbling cop who is forever getting knocked out or shot, is unable to pull a trigger, falls over, takes forever to figure out what’s going on, has a pregnant wife who you keep waiting to pay off but never goes. He’s more of an observer to the action. The real hero/protagonist is Tommy Lewis – a tough, scarred badass straight out of a western, a superhero with his dead eye aim and mighty vengeance. (His skills didn’t seem to extend to telling his lawyer what happened). It really just should have been his story from the get go.

The photography and locations are excellent, the acting solid, there is some decent acting. It’s flaws could have been easily fixed but I think they were in too much of a hurry to get the thing made.

Movie reviews – “The Small Back Room” (1949) ****

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were at the absolute top of the heap following The Red Shoes – a Hollywood career was theirs for the taking but instead they elected to go work for Alex Korda. The result was a string of films that were unsuccessful at the box office, although they have a solid critical reputation.

 

This was their first Korda film and it’s aged very well – the hero is the sort of the role they love to play today: tormented, crippled (fake foot), alcoholic, brilliant, sexy (he has a sexually charged relationship with his girlfriend). It’s also got a great documentary feel, and realistic take (eg ministry meeting with jack hammering going on outside). There’s an expressionistic “not drinking” scene which feels Long Weekend.

There’s a plot about German bombs killing people (it’s set in 1943) but the bulk of the story concerns a character study of David Farrar (the hero) and politics with back room ministries, which I found surprisingly engrossing. 

 

The support cast is superb: Jack Hawkins (Farrar’s boss), Sid James (bartender who discourages his alcoholic tendencies), Robert Morley. Kathleen Byron was so effective in The Black Narcissus but didn’t quite work in a more “normal” role here as Farrar’s girlfriend. Farrar is excellent and should have had a bigger career as star. What's with the bromance between him and the officer at the end?

Movie review – “Imitation of Life” (1959) ***

Ross Hunter revived Lana Turner’s career with this glossy remake of the 1934 Claudette Colbert film. It’s a classic mixture of camp, glamour, social commentary. But you can’t dismiss it because few Hollywood films of the time tackled race so head on – silly melodrama can do that. 

 

It’s full of contradictions and complexity – Lana Turner is a selfish career-orientated bitch – but why should she give up her career to marry John Gavin just because he doesn’t want her to work? Susah Kohner is angry and mean – but why sholdn’t she be angry at a society that persecutes blacks? Or embarrassed by her mother, who just wants her to work as a librarian? Juanita Moore is kind, lovely and warm but is an Uncle Tom, with no ambition for her daughter to better herself – or spine to tell Lana Turner (her “friend” who does’nt even realise that Moore has other friends) to stick it. The only really likeable character is Sandra Dee; even she’s a bit patronising to Moore but at least she tries to keep her emotions in check when she falls for Gavin.  

 

Best performances are from Dee and Kohner, who has the standout, showy role. Turner is dreadful, indicating all over the place, Moore is a noble savage (domestic maid version) and John Gavin is exactly like a Ken Doll come to life. 

 

Robert Alda adds some professional zing as a sleazy agent and Troy Donahue gives perhaps his most effective performance as the low life who smacks around Kohner when he finds out she's black.

Movie review – “Love With a Proper Stranger” (1963) ****

This seems like it was made such a long time ago – in that period when filmmakers were coming out of New York theatre and live TV, keen to make some social realism, but with enough savvy to cast stars. Let’s face it, the film wouldn’t have been as much fun with genuinely ordinary people in it. Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen are both enchanting as a Macey’s shop girl and musician who fall in love via an abortion – they’ve had a one-night stand which he doesn’t remember, she’s pregnant and needs to find a doctor. Tom Bosley is the guy who her brothers want her to date (who's going to win that battle, do you think?).

 

Wood and McQueen are both superb. Wood looks lovely, is very winning and believable – this is probably her best performance. McQueen is very engaging too. There’s a bit of overplaying from some of the support characters eg the scenes with Wood’s Italian family (who include Harvey Lembeck) and Tom Bosley’s sister who goes on about love (they go too much for satire rather than emotional truth here). Bosley’s mother looks like Marie Dressler.

 

For all the black and white photography, location shooting, methody acting, treatment of abortion and pre-marital sex, it’s still Hollywood – the Macey’s shop girl looks like Natalie Wood, McQueen offers to marry her pretty quickly and takes a job to support her, they fall in love, he respects her even when she won’t sleep with him. I guess it is kind of clear that he will cheat on her down the track.

Movie review – “Zombieland” (2009) ***

Another movie about zombies? But the public sensed a good one and the result was a surprise hit. Why not – it’s a good movie, genuinely funny, a bright look at America post zombie apocalypse. They’ve gone for humour, only occasionally tackling the enormity of what's happened. The four leads are terrific - Emma Stone is a real fan boy's idea of a believable dream girl who might actually be into you. Bright lines, Bill Murray's cameo is wonderful. The last act is a noisy action sequence - it runs out of ideas around then.

Movie review – “Romancing the Stone” (1984) ***

I remember the action sequences were never that great- serviceable but not Raiders standard – but it had great charm. Still felt that way more than twenty years on. Kathleen Turner’s transformation from wallflower to butterfly remains fun and Michael Douglas is a believably shabby hero. Some engaging by play, beautiful locations and Danny de Vito is a funny villain. You never care about the sister.

Book review – “The Men Who Would Be King” by Nicole Laporte

Anyone with a half-decent knowledge of Hollywood history would had treated the hype that greeted the formation of Dreamworks with scepticism – how much would they really be able to change? Based on the track record of other companies, the most we could expect would be a handful of decent films and the inevitable folding – that happens with all mini studios, such as Seven Arts, Hecht Hill Lancaster and Embassy. (The exception is something like United Artists in the 50s which pioneered a genuinely different way of doing things). And that’s what happened with Dreamworks.

 

It’s a tale worth telling – not an epic struggle like Eisner vs Katzenberg or Cimino at United Artists, but worth knowing about. The three principals actually didn’t have that much to do with each other – David Geffen seemed removed from the company most of the time except for Dream Girls, Katzenberg was stuck in Animation, Spielberg floated in and out of the company. The driving force of the live action studio in the early days were the husband and wife team of Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, about whom I’d heard little – charismatic, smart, troublesome, with a great track record.

 

There are cameos by people such as Mike de Luca, Stacey Snider and Terry Press, and interesting tidbits like Rita Wilson sulking because she didn’t get cast as the mother in Almost Famous (Rita Wilson thinks she has that much pull??) The person who comes off best is Katzenberg – he founded the studio to get revenge on Disney only to have running the studio taken away from him and put into animation; he took it like a man, buckled down and worked his arse off.

 

The main problem with Dreamworks is they couldn’t figure out what they wanted to be. They could have been an artistic hot house a la American Beauty provided they kept their budgets down (eg Almost Famous cost a fortune) – or they could be a commercial mini studio (they made Transformers and had a good relationship with Paramount). The could identify talent – just not keep the bills down.

 

Laporte writes in a journalistic style, which means over emphasis on things like Oscar campaigns, box office results, and ridiculous personal feuds (eg Brad Grey making a faux pas), and little on the quality of the movies. She also makes silly errors such as claiming films rarely get a standing ovation at Cannes. But it’s entertaining.

Movie review – “My Geisha” (1962) **

It takes a big to swallow the premise of this Norman Krasna penned comedy – Shirley MacLaine is a Hollywood comedy star whose film director husband (Yves Montand) wants to do a version of Madame Butterfly in Japan without his wife. The studio won’t give him the money to make it without MacLaine, so she pretends to be a Japanese geisha, and ends up being cast in the lead, without her husband knowing.

 

I went with the impersonation because MacLaine wears geisha make up – I didn’t buy so much that hubby would cast her (maybe they should just have Montand doing research as opposed to casting her in the lead of a film). The main Act two complication is the sleazy leading man (Bob Cummings) falling for MacLaine’s geisha. Unfortunately this means Montand’s character is less prominent when he should be key.

 

MacLaine is good and few do light comedy as well as Bob Cummings (even if he was starting to look a bit long in the tooth) but it’s not a lot of fun. Jack Cardiff handles things with a leaden hand and far too much of this is heavy and not that funny eg Cummings trying to hit on MacLaine to such a degree he almost rapes her, Montand talking and talking about how he felt emasculated in his marriage (poor director). (I wonder if this was in there because of producer Steve Parker, who was married to MacLaine and spent most of his time in Japan.) It’s also a bit sexist with its praising of geisha lifestyles and how they support men. Oh, and Montand seems to world-weary and tired to be effective in farce.

 

On the sunny side, there are some gorgeous images of Japan, it’s nicely photographer and we get slabs of Puccini. Edward G Robinson plays the producer who is in on the deception.

Movie review – “The Restless Years” (1958) ** (warning: spoilers)

Universal put two of its contract teen stars into their own vehicle – Sandra Dee, all American girl, and swarthy John Saxon. It’s a pleasant enough slice of teen angst, with many of the sort of plots you find on soapies today – small town setting full of gossip, history and class consciousness; no one understands the kids; parents are mean and put pressure on the kids; she auditions for a part in Our Town; the bitchy rich girl wants the part and is mean; false rumours are spread.

The script - from a play and adapted by Edward Anhalt - seems influenced by two plays – Death of a Salesman (Saxon’s father wants to use his son to introduce him to contacts and is desperate for a sale) and Streetcar Named Desire (Dee’s mum [Teresa Wright] is a bit weird and obsessed with the memory of Dee’s father).

Some of this has dated – Dee’s character is illegitimate, a big issue for everyone concerned; there’s a lot of oohing and aahing over sex. Some of it’s high camp – the rich girl has a drunken trampy mother. The happy ending isn’t really happy – we’re meant to buy Wright is cured of her craziness because she stops looking for letters from Dee’s father but that sort of thing doesn’t cure over night; also, no one clears Dee’s name of the allegations she sleep around – and Saxon still moves to another town (he says he loves her and will come back and writes a letter… how long do you think that will last). I did enjoy it though. Shame it isn’t in colour.

Radio review – Best Plays – “Biography” (1952) **

I think maybe I’d like S N Behrman’s plays if I watched productions with stars I was fond of – the plots are so wafer fin and the jokes and characterisation not particularly strong. This was a stage hit for Ina Claire and it’s a good vehicle for a female star (Faye Emerson plays the role here): she’s a glamorous painter in New York who decides to write her memoirs for a bit of cash. Everyone loves her: the intense, principled editor, the man running for senate – but at the end she decides to be single. Good for her. Shame the jokes aren’t funnier.

Movie review – “Broken Trail” (2005) **1/2

One of the most successful projects from Walter Hill’s later career was shooting the Deadwood pilot, so it’s no surprise to see him back in the small screen saddle. This time it’s a self contained mini series, and one of the few post 1980s cowboy stars (Robert Duvall; the others would be Kevin Costner and maybe Tom Selleck).

American filmmakers have shown an increasing ability to tackle the issue of race, so the central idea gives hope this might make for powerful drama – some Chinese women sold into prostitution come under the protection of two cowboys (Duvall and Thomas Haden Church). Unfortunately the Chinese women remain personality-less ciphers, wailing victims. All the drama and character development is given to the cowboys and the white prostitute (Greata Scacchi) who accompanies them. (Hill was never a great director of women).

It's a mixture of slow, thoughtful, elegiac scenes - bathing in the river as the sun goes down, having cups of coffee, teaching the girls to ride, campfire dinners - interspersed with outbursts of violence, which are extremely well handled. It's a shame the script and character work wasn't stronger.

Movie review – “Bolt” (2008) ***

Fun Disney cartoon with elements of Toy Story and The Truman Show – the dog star of a show about a dog with superpowers doesn’t think he’s acting. It’s a simple story, well told – he hooks up with a bitter kitten, Mittens, and a TV addicted hampster... all that heroes journey stuff, with no villain, really (maybe the dog who takes Bolt's place). It never quite reaches the delirious heights of it's opening action sequence but there is fun to be had. John Travolta and Miley Cyrus provide voice work.

Radio review – Best Plays – “Susan and God” (1953) **1/2

A socialite starts doing “good deeds” by telling the truth therefore spreading havoc amongst her set. It’s not a bad idea for a play – there was probably more dramatic meat to be mined, or at least better gags. Judith Evelyn plays the role made famous by Gertrude Lawrence on stage and Joan Crawford on screen.

Movie review – “Saratoga” (1937) **1/2

Jean Harlow’s last film gets a bad rap because she died during it’s shooting, and an unconvincing body double is used in some shots, but at least it had Clark Gable, a fantastic support cast (Hattie McDaniel, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Pidgeon) and lively racetrack atmosphere. It was a hell of a lot better note to go out on than Personal Property. 

 

The plot has bookie Clarke Gable inherit a race track and Jean Harlow is a girl trying to bag rich Pidgeon. In hindsight, Harlow appears ill here (bloated in some shots) and the scene where her character falls ill is creepy. There’s a sequence where Gable and Harlow all sing on a train with a bunch of other characters (reused at the end to give the film a shot to go out on), which is reminiscent of ‘The Man in the Flying Trapeze’ sequence in It Happened One Night.

Movie review – “Paul” (2011) ***

The third big screen teaming of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost lacks the verve of Edgar Wright’s direction but it still an enjoyable take on sci fi and chase flicks. It’s got a bright Galaxy Quest-esque idea – two sci fi nerds doing a tour of UFO sights find an actual alien – some good jokes and very funny support performances from Jane Lynch, Kirsten Wiig (playing “the girl” but given a real character to play), Jason Bateman and Seth Rogen (excellent special effects here). It’s a bit too loud and frantic in places, there are too many gay jokes and I felt it was a bit mean for the nerd FBI agent to be scarred for life. Has any film in recent years taken such a dig at creationism?

Movie review – “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” (1983) ***

Not many people like this entry in the Halloween series – it doesn’t feature Michael Myers and doesn’t involve a maniac running around knifing people. But I’ve always liked it – partly because I saw it when I was a kid and it scared the crap out of me, with its spooky night scenes of slow cars coming over the horizon.

The plot has doctor Tom Atkins investigate the mysterious murder of a patient because seemingly he wants to (a) get to the bottom (b) have sex with the dead man's hot daughter (c) avoid spending time with his wife and kids. So he takes off a few days of work and goes to one of those small coastal towns so beloved by John Carpenter, and discovers a villainous plot to wipe out all the children in the world. 

The story has some flaws (what are they going to do about time zones), Atkins escapes from some messy situations rather easily, some of the acting is iffy... actually if I start picking I won't stop, but it's got a wonderful creepy atmosphere, the music is fantastic, Atkins is a strong hero (even if his character is a nob), Dan O'Herlihy offers good support, they actually kill a kid on screen. It's pretty creepy.

Movie review – “Polyester” (1981) **1/2

John Waters in Douglas Sirk/Ross Hunter territory, with a bit of William Castle thrown in. It’s a melodrama about a long-suffering suburban housewife (Divine) – hubby runs a porno theatre and cheats with his secretary, mum taunts her, son is hooked on glue on stomping on feet, the daughter is a tramp who wants an abortion, the hunk down the road (Tab Hunter) is actually a louse.

 

Ocasionally this is tiresome, in part because there’s no real overall story, just a series of bad things happening to Divine (who is passive most of the time). 

But some of it is hilarious eg drive in playing a triple feature of Maguerite Duras films – and Waters really goes there (eg abortion satire). Like the William Castle pictures, when watching it without the gimmicks you can’t help thinking ‘gee this would be better with the gimmick’ so you kind of feel like a second class citizen. 

 

Hunter doesn’t strike the right note in his first few scenes but gradually grows more comfortable and he’s very well cast. (It's not a very big part - due to his fee being relatively expensive for Waters - and he doesn't appear for a while).

Radio review – Inner Sanctum – “Death is a Joker” (1941) ***

Peter Lorre is a man who driven to murder who is paranoid about being busted… so he kills again. And the twist is he didn’t have to – an old twist but a goodie. That takes up 20 minutes then there’s seven minutes or so added on of a preview of another story with Boris Karloff as a doctor operating on a blind person. The Lorre segment is very good though.

Radio review – Suspense – “The Black Curtain” (1948) ***

For a time, Suspense reverted to an hour long format – this was the first, and ut’s a pretty good one, from a Cornell Woolldrich story, with Robert Montgomery as an amnesiac trying to find out about what happened in the last few years. There’s murder, paranoia, a femme fetale, people trying to kill him, etc. It does take a little getting used to hearing it go for so long.

Movie review – “Madame X” (1966) *

It takes a lot of swallow the premise of this film – Lana Turner accidentally kills her lover who she’s about to dump (Ricardo Montalban) so is blackmailed by her spiteful mother in law (Constance Bennett) into giving up her husband and child. Then years later comes back to be defended for murder by her son. 

If you smell “camp classic” you’d be right – you’ve got a way too old Tuner wearing exotic gowns and suffering terribly, Montalban as a lover, Bennett as a bitch, John Forsyth in the Effrem Zimbalist Jnr role, dingy dives in Europe, Ross Hunter as producer, Turner being drunk on a bed with neon lights flashing just outside the window. 

The premise is so ridiculous the movie doesn’t work and the writers compound the error by piling on the contrivances eg her son defending her for murder without knowing who she is. And why even bother having that sequence with that European guy who rescues Turner from the snow and falls for her? Keir Dullea waltzes in like he’s on work experience, and Turner is dreadful and far too old.. Burgess Meredith gives the sole good performance as a blackmailer although Montalban is always professional. Garbage.

Radio review – Lux – “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1947) ****

Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed repeat their film roles with Victor Moore the new addition in this version of Frank Capra’s famous Christmas tale. It’s got one of the all time great ideas – to wit, what would happen if you’ve never been born? But surprisingly that concept only comes along in the third act. Act one is about Jimmy Stewart being frustrated in his dreams – he wants to leave town but it’s thwarted by his father’s death, then his brother’s marriage, then the Depression. Act two is Jimmy being driven to suicide. Then act three he realises things aren’t that bad. It’s a pertinent message just as important today – the sweet stuff works so well because there’s so much darkness: the threat of illness, cost of medical treatment, economic collapse, cruelty of Mr Potter. You really feel for Stewart’s character, with his spoilt younger brother refusing to take his turn running the family business (yeah he’s a war hero but so what), idiotic uncle who loses his money. Stewart’s wonderful voice made him a superb radio actor and he’s very good here.

Movie review – “Personal Property” (1937) *1/2

Dull, unfunny, unromantic romantic comedy – if you think they make clunkers today, you should see this. For starters, it has a confusing premise – Robert Taylor is the black sheep of an aristocratic family just out of prison for some reason who, through some contrived set of circumstances, winds up as a pretend bailiff of impoverished widow Jean Harlow – he pretends to be her butler while she’s wooing her rich fiancée, who is his brother. Or something. It’s idiotic. 

 

Taylor is unconvincing as a member of the British upper classes (he doesn’t look related to his brothers or mother), and he has nil comfort with Jean Harlow – allegedly charming scenes such as them having a pretend picnic together die. And Harlow seems miscast. Dreadful.

TV review – “The Walking Dead - Season 1” (2010) ***

Some good writing and more in-depth character work than you usually see in a zombie movie but at the end of the day it’s still a zombie movie, with all the bits you see in others – the shock of a little girl trying to kill you, the pain of shooting a former loved one who’s turned, the sudden outbursts in violence, the survival mentality, the reveal of government complicity, the shots to the head, the confusion as to why the government couldn't organise half-effective resistance. 

And it’s still got that right wing fantasy thing happening – people able to run around blowing away zombies in the head (everyone here is a very good shot, although it is hard for them to get hold of ammo). It looks impressive and Andrew Lincoln makes an engaging hero. Lots of subplots that aren't resolved at the end.

Movie review – “Undisputed” (2002) ***1/2

Walter Hill’s best film in a long while – a terrific, unpretentious prison boxing flick. It’s less sparse than say Hard Times, more reminiscent of The Jericho Mile. Ving Rhames is terrific as the world champ boxer who winds up in gaol on a rape charge – defiant, proud, cocky, brave, stupid. It’s a very complex character that feels very authentic. Wesley Snipes is also good as the more- sympathetic-but-not-entirely prison champ. 

There’s a number of enjoyable subplots – Peter Falk as a Mafioso, Fisher Stevens as Snipes' assistant, the involvement of a black gang and the mafia, Michael Rooker as a corrupt guard. There's some clunky exposition, such as the flashback press conference scenes, and the final boxing match wasn't that memorable, but the lead up is pretty terrific. 

The bit where Snipes refuses to fight Rhames dishonorably is reminiscent of a scene in Hard Times where the guy taking on Charles Bronson refused to cheat.

Movie review – “Wife vs Secretary” (1936) **

A highly commercial title, plenty of MGM gloss and three of the biggest stars at the time – Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy – plus then-emerging James Stewart at Harlow’s boyfriend. The result is a very light drama (it’s not funny enough to be a comedy) about wife Loy being jealous over secretary Harlow’s devotion to boss/husband Gable.

 

In the old pre-Code Red Headed Woman days Harlow would have set out to seduce Gable and destroyed his life but here she just has a crush and doesn’t take advantage of him and she’s no real threat. Act three has Loy call Gable’s room at two in the morning and Harlow is there, but it’s mostly a misunderstanding. (Actually, Gable’s drunk and Harlow seems up for it – it’s the one decent scene in the movie, because it actually has heat). 

 

The stars all do their thing well enough; Harlow is forced by the censor to be decent and loving – maybe closer to the real Harlow but the trashy pre-Code version was more fun. Loy plays the perfect wife in her normally accomplished style - although her character doesn't do much except sleep in her separate bedroom, look chic and go shopping - she doesn't even have kids. James Stewart does the best he can in a thankless part, arguing why women shouldn't have jobs.

 

Norman Krasna worked on the script but there's no impersonation really - or even that many laughs. There is a charming ice skating sequence.

Movie review – “Libeled Lady” (1936) ****

It’s all a matter of personal taste of course but for my money Jean Harlow’s comedies have aged wonderfully well whereas the melodramas haven’t, particularly after the Production Code came in. This is a comedy, fortunately, with the benefit of a deluxe cast: Spencer Tracey, William Powell and Myrna Loy. The bulk of the plot concerns Powell pursuing heiress Loy, trying to con her father by pretending to be a fishing expert (this small section was used later for a whole movie – Man’s Favourite Sport). Powell’s doing it because Loy is suing the paper run by Spencer Tracey – Tracey gets his fiancée Harlow to marry Powell so they can concoct a breach of marriage suite.

All the leads are in good form, as is the support cast (Harlow does look a little pasty). Even though Powell and Harlow were a couple in real life, he plays better with Loy on screen – they both seem cut from the same cloth. Harlow is game as ever - it's fun to see her throwing her tantrums, being conned into marrying another man by her own fiancee. Excellent support cast as well.

Movie review – “The Deal” (2003) ****

Wonderful look at the relationship between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, who shared a room together when both were first elected MPs (in 1983), then became devoted political frenemies. Michael Sheen’s performance as Tony Blair became deservedly famous, mostly because he got to repeat it twice – smiling, jovial, hard working, with a touch of the Uriah Heeps… you’re never sure if he’s sincere or full of it, but it’s clear he was greatly distrusted by his own party. A bit more of a glimpse of his home life and look at his religious convictions (he’s a born again) might have helped. David Morrisey – an actor I was unfamiliar with although he’s done a lot of work on British TV – is excellent as the glowering, gruff Brown, who is depicted here as being more principled and genuine as Blair, holding off on looking for votes after John Smith’s death whereas Blair went for it… but then is that such a crime? Maybe Blair had the ticker for the top job in a way Brown didn’t. Brown certainly doesn’t put up much of a fight in the famous lunch – he gives in straight away, and doesn’t even get an iron clad promise from Blair that he’ll step down after two elections. (Keating got it in writing from Hawke but it didn’t help him either). Dexter Fletcher is very good as a politico although the third biggest part really goes to a gay Labor minister.

Radio review – Lux – “Mr Blanding Builds His Dream House” (1948) ***

One of a rash of suburbanite comedies in the late 40s as returned servicemen flooded out of the cities (inc Sitting Pretty, The Egg and I). This has the benefit of Cary Grant in the lead role with Irene Dunne an ideal substitute for Myrna Loy. It’s a one note gag story – Grant getting increasingly flustered with bills for his new house – and they throw in a vague love triangle (all the suburbanite comedies featured a love triangle). I always remembered how it’s Grant’s black maid who saves his job by giving him a slogan, and all she gets is a raise (he’s a Don Draper like exec).

Radio review – Lux – “Sitting Pretty” (1949) ***1/2

The mistake in the 80s sitcom version of Mr Belvedere was the lead actor was too cuddly for all his superior affectations – Clifton Webb’s Belvedere, however, works marvellously because he has a genuine edge of nastiness. The idea of a superman, snobby but extremely capable, who can whip kids into shape remains immensely appealing and Webb's performance remains a delight. Robert Young and Maureen O'Hara do the best they can in more conventional roles - Young has to play a pompous git who assumes Belvedere is getting it on with his wife in order to give this some extra story.

Movie review – “Riffraff” (1936) **

These Jean Harlow MGM melodramas (eg Hold Your Man, Reckless, Suzy) all followed the same pattern: Jean and a hunky male co-star fall in love, start of wisecracking but soon get all serious and turn into this weird hodge podge of drama, indicating much rewriting and reshooting. This one starts off as a sort of industrial drama with Spencer Tracy as a Unionist fisherman – but this is MGM so the bosses and union are crooked and no real workers want to strike. (Tracy was a great actor but not the sexiest co-star Harlow ever had.) They get married, he gets a big head, break up, he becomes a hobo, she winds up in prison, has a baby, he encourages her to escape, she won’t, then she does (there’s a girl prison escape sequence in the rain), he’s a nightwatchman who becomes a hero, then they reunited, Harlow agrees to go back to gaol… It’s a mess really.

There is some great dialogue – Frances Marion and Dorothy Parker worked on the script –Harlow is sweet in a role that has been said to be close to her real personality (loyal, loving, not a platinum blonde… only not a nudist), and Mickey Rooney turns up as Harlow’s brother. But it’s not enough to make up for the dud, messy story.

Radio review – Suspense – “Fugue in C Minor” (1944) ***1/2

Vincent Price and Ida Lupino in a first-rate edition of the show about a woman who marries a widower whose kids are convinced their dead mum is in the organ. That’s a pretty way out idea, and gives this real kick, even if it’s a shame the finale isn’t sufficiently horrific.

Movie review – “Wasted on the Young” (2011) *** (warning: spoilers)

Impressive look at nihilistic Perth teens – plenty of cash and mobile phones, not a lot of effective communication. Oliver Ackland is really impressive as a tormented teen whose step brother may or may not have raped a girl Ackland likes (Adelaide Clements, who has some terrific moments too). But this being an Australian film Ackland doesn’t do anything about it for most of the film, until the very end. (Which is needlessly confusing; a great dramatic situation – getting young people to vote on who will live or die – is undermined by it’s depiction.) It gets the violence and oppression of private schools very well. I get why they didn’t want to show adults, but in a story where it all comes out that a girl was raped and there’s suicide, etc it didn’t quite feel right that adults wouldn’t be a bigger presence. (If it was all build up to the act, fine, but a lot of this takes place after). Out of the supporting performances, I really liked the long haired bully guy – he was very effective. Very stylish and well put together – it’s not really a low budget film.

Movie review - “Coney Island” (1943) ***

A Betty Grable musical but the plot is more driven by George Montgomery, who arrives in Coney Island during the 1890s and sets about establishing himself as a musical impresario by outwitting his former partner and making a star of Grable. Betty doesn’t do much plot wise except stamp her foot, look indignant and be fought over, but she does lots of numbers (one in blackface, unfortunately) and is very pretty. Montgomery is terrific, confident and wise-cracky in a sub Clark Gable way – surely he would have become a bigger star had war service not interrupted his career. Good support from Cesar Romeo (the perennial other man), Phil Silvers and Charles Winninger. Some of the musical numbers seem to go on forever.

Radio review – Lux – “Break of Hearts” (1944) **

Of interest mainly to those curious to hear Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles acting together on radio. For my money she outshines him simply by giving an adequate, understated performance – he hams it up and puts on an outrageous accent. The plot is about a young music composer who falls for a famous conductor – they get married impulsively and struggle to stick together, both tempted by third parties. Who cares? Welles and Rita appear at the end and there’s some unfunny banter where Welles says he’s interested in taking over the Lux Radio show.

Movie review – “Two for the Wave” (2010) ***1/2

Fascinating documentary about the relationship of the two biggest stars of the French New Wave – Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard. Both film critics turned directors, they were friends who helped each other at various stages of their career – actually, it seems Truffaut helped Godard more than the other way around, providing a story and guarantee for Breathless, discovering Jean-Pierre Leaud who Godard used in several films, providing constant public support. Godard repaid this by becoming more militant, angry and eventually slagging Truffaut off so much that Truffaut cut off contact. 

That mightn’t have been how it happened but I believed it from the footage here – Godard was a doctor’s son and banker’s grandson, well off and sulky, given to radicalism and Marxism, seemingly humorless (he reminded me of Che Guevera) while Truffaut was a genuine working class battler, a humanist. Spoilt middle class brats always became the most hard core militants.

Some of the footage is terrific – interviews from the 60s, press conference from the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, Leaud’s audition tape for The 400 Blows. A little more context wouldn’t have gone astray – and I didn’t get that chick flicking through the old newspaper cuttings. I’m surprise Truffaut and Goddard battled so much over Leaud – he wasn’t that good an actor, at least not as an adult, but then I guess it was more symbolism than anything else.

Movie review – “Midnight Lace” (1960) **1/2

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Who is gaslighting poor old Doris Day in a fog bound London? Is it the handsome construction worker doing stuff next door (John Gavin, bravely tackling an English actor and coming off badly)? Her businessman husband (Rex Harrison)? Wacky aunt (Myrna Loy)? The maid’s dodgy son (Roddy McDowall)? Elderly associate (Herbert Marshall)?

The appearance of John Williams as a cop and Anthony Dawson as a sleeze reminds one of Dial M for Murder. This isn’t in that class, and the opening scene of a high pitched voice terrorising Doris in the fog doesn’t scare me as much as it did when I was a kid, but it’s enjoyable in it’s own way. The cast is terrific fun – even Gavin’s badness (he has to convey post war battle trauma in one scene) has it’s own rewards.

The script was written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who also wrote another thriller for Ross Hunter released that year, Portrait in Black. Like that, it starred a glamorous middle aged female who was lusted after by various cast members, had a glittering support cast, slightly exotic setting, and a finale which involved someone getting up on a high place. This is probably better of the two, if only because the lead is more sympathetic.

Radio review – NBC – “The History Mr Polly” (1949) **

Boris Karloff enters the world of Dickens again playing the lead role in this version of HG Wells novel. It’s reasonably well known but I’ve got to admit I’m not sure why. Mr Polly is a nerd who comes into money, buys a shop, marries a bitch and fakes his own suicide. Maybe you need to be English to get into it. Karloff handles the lead role well enough – he was a decent actor, just not exceptional the way he was in horror films. During the intermission, an announcer talks about Wells, basically saying his writing declined in later years as he got more serious – odd to hear a radio program having a go at him. Maybe they were offended by his socialism.

Movie review – “Bye Bye Birdie” (1963) **

Affectionately remembered musical, in part because of Ann Margaret but also because it’s so often performed by high school. This big screen version is pretty hideous though. I thought George Sidney did a good job on Viva Las Vegas but here he allows all the actors to ham it up and project to the back row – Maureen Stapleton in particular chews the scenery, when she’s not looking far too young to play Dick Van Dyke’s mother. I can’t imagine a musical where so many of the men are emasculated – momma’s boy Van Dyke, pussy whipped Bobby Rydell, camp Paul Lynde (Ann Margaret’s dad), even Ed Sullivan gets badgered into using a Van Dyke song by Janet Leigh.

The script makes some really stupid changes from the original book; instead of Van Dyke playing the singer’s manager, he is a chemist and struggling songwriter – which means it makes no sense he’d be hanging around the small town, or would have the pull to get his song on air for such an important occasion. It also makes him a loser. 

Janet Leigh tries her best as his girlfriend but changing her into an Anglo robs that character of a lot of her point (Van Dyke’s mother’s opposition to her is no longer motivated by racial bigotry) and there’s this horrible sequence where she gets drunk and allows herself to be pawed by Shriners (to be fair this was in the stage show); and an unbelievable bit where she tells Ann Margret she’s still a good girl.

Ann-Margret is very sexy, exploited, and allowed to over-act – she was much better in Viva Las Vegas. You don’t believe for a second she’d want to go back to whimpy Bobby Rydell, but rather would be on the first bus out of town. (There’s no reason the piece couldn’t have worked as more of an Ann Margret vehicle but they needed to strengthen the Rydell character too). 

Jesse Pearson mugs as Conrad, and the satirical possibilities in this role as missed. (I started fantasy casting and wished Elvis had played both the Rydell and Pearson role – it would have made the attractiveness of the hometown boy a lot more fathomable). 

It’s all colourful, garish, often in bad taste with some strong numbers, like the title tune and ‘The Telephone Hour’.

Radio review – Suspense – “The Thing in the Window” (1949) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

An entry from Lucille Fletcher, perhaps the best writer to work on Suspense; like her most famous pieces it’s primarily a work in paranoia, as unemployed actor Joseph Cotten becomes convinced there's a corpse in the room across the street. According to the banter at the end this was Cotten's seventh episode of the series, making him the star who’d appeared in it most. He’s very good – although as always with Cotten you get the feeling the producers would have preferred to go with someone else (the other actor I felt that way about was Frederic March). The sense of unease and paranoia builds well and I genuinely found myself wondering how it would end - it turns out he was only playing an elaborate trick on the owners of the flat to avenge himself on an actor who turned him down. This character is probably introduced too late in the piece but I guess anything else would have tipped the hat too much. And it gets points for having Cotten murder someone violently and get away with it.

Movie review – “Happythankyoumoreplease” (2010) **

The spirit of indie cinema still lives – a bunch of actors wandering around New York trying to pretend to be real people. Their problems are either unrealistic (writer looks after a small black foster child) or dull (boyfriend wants to move to LA, girlfriend wants to stay; writer has trouble committing; a singer is called Mississippi). There’s a magic pixie dreamgirl (Kate Mara, who I used to like but after this I realised she can’t act), a friend with alopecia (Malin Ackerman acting via make up), lots of monologues about love and hope rather than drama, plenty of indie songs, a terrific cast (Zoe Kazan), flat script, forced romanticism. The birth of a really minor cinematic talent.

Movie review – “That Funny Feeling” (1965) **

It’s a shame Sandra Dee didn’t have a longer career as an adult star, she had looks, perkiness and could act well enough – but her material wasn’t always the best. Nor was her choice of co-stars. Bobby Darin has his fans and the man could definitely sing but he doesn’t seem at home as a New York millionaire who romances Dee; he’s not good looking or charismatic enough in a part that needed a Rock Hudson, Rod Taylor or even Robert Goulet. 

The set up is idiotic, too, and far too slight for a movie – Dee is a maid who pretends to own an apartment so she can impress a new beau (Darin), unaware that he actually owns the apartment. Some lousy complications are offered by Darin’s richer elder friend (Donald O’Connor, doing what he can in the Tony Randall part, but feeling miscast), and some of Dee’s wacky actor mates. 

Some really bad comedy set pieces such as bartenders misinterpreting a conversation between Darin and Dee to think it's about hookers, a dull one with a pawnbroker, and flat party scenes – it was directed by old MGM veteran Richard Thorpe. The support cast, including Leo G Carroll, Robert Strauss and Nita Talbot, doesn’t save the day. Not written by Norman Krasna or produced by Ross Hunter - the film could have done with both men.

Movie review – “Portrait in Black” (1960) **1/2

The success of Imitation of Life saw producer Ross Hunter come up with another Lana Turner-Sandra Dee melodrama, although this one is more of a thriller. It's based on a Broadway play by Ben Roberts and Aussie Ivan Goff, which only had a short run in the late 1940s but was highly regarded enough to launch those two as a team of writers. 

The story is a twist on Double Indemnity, wasn’t too original in the first place – Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn are illicit lovers to conspire to kill Turner’s shipping tycoon husband (Lloyd Nolan); she has a step-daughter (Dee) who hates her and is in love with a hot headed young man (John Saxon) who provides the third act suspect when the net closes in around Turner. Further complicating things are a nasty lawyer (Richard Basehart) in love with Turner, a drunken chauffeur (Ray Walston) and sneaky housekeeper (Anna May Wong!). That’s a bunch of juicy support roles, so it’s no surprise to see Hunter attracted an all star cast (they also get to appear during the credits).

There are some changes from the play, where we never saw the husband (the murder had already happened), and John Saxon character was a unionist (which made for more logical drama as the whole thing takes place to the background of an industrial dispute – but that would have been too much for Hollywood to have a unionist heartthrob so instead he’s the son of a disgraced businessman trying to rebuild his family company. I suppose this change does personalise the conflict a bit more.)

It’s enjoyable enough in a silly way – there’s plenty of story but it does feel as though the leads are miscast: someone like Joan Crawford or Barbra Stanwyck could have done the emoting better than Turner, who is a blank slate; Quinn is too strong an actor to be believable as a nervy, neurotic, tormented doctor, which is how he plays it. Dee’s role isn’t much, she’s just a love interest, but she adds some star power; Basehart and Walston are excellent, Saxon glowers well (this was the third of three teamings he had with Dee), and Wong’s casting has definite novelty appeal.

Movie review – “Moon Pilot” (1961) **

Disney comedies often featured a fair slice of satire eg The Absent Minded Professor - but this is an out-and-out satirical piece, with the result that it’s not very well known today. Another reason is of course this simply isn’t very good.

It starts brightly enough, with pompous soldiers (including officer Brian Keith) and anxious politicians waiting for the return of the latest American astronaut… a chimpanzee. But then the action switches from the chimp to a less expressive actor, Tom Tryon, who plays a soldier basically forced to volunteer to go into space. The bulk of the “plot” is about an alien from another planet, the charming Danny Saval, persuading Tryon to make scientific adjustments to his rocket ship, so he won’t be hurt, and the security agencies (led by Edmond O’Brien) wondering what is going on. That’s a dull plot, full of holes – why should they believe this girl who says she’s an alien?

Tryon is a bland Ken Doll who can’t play comedy – Brian Keith or Tommy Kirk (who has a much too small role as Tryon’s brother) would have been better. O’Brien shouts too much and it’s handled dully. There’s also some agonising bad satire about beatniks towards the end – the cops haul in a bunch of beatnik women and they act like hop heads, yelling, and reciting poetry. (Question for film historians – did the number of beatniks sent up by the movies exceed the number of actual beatniks in real life?)

Radio review – BP – “Camille” (1953) **

Sexist codswallop which has proved very durable over the years because it has a terrific part of a female star – Camille the courtesan, beautiful, funny, adored by a younger man, who noblys sacrifices her love for his sake (and his sister), gets to talk (a lot), then dies tragically (with a little cough here and there). She breaks up with Armand at the pleading/bossing of Armand’s father, who in some interpretations could be seen as nice but here comes across as a horrible oppressive bully. Eva LaGallienne and Richard Waring play the lead roles.

Movie review – “Night Nurse” (1931) ***

Pre-code fun with Barbra Stanwyck as a party loving nurse who nonetheless has a good soul – so while she romances a bootlegger (he’s a nice bootlegger selling good quality booze, but he’s still a gangster), likes a drink and party, and gets changed into her clothes on screen possibly more times than any other character in the 30s, she helps bust a bad doctor and saves two kids who are being poisoned by their mother’s treacherous lover (Clarke Gable!!). 

 

Joan Blondell is perfect as the nurse who is Stanwyck’s wisecracking best friend (she’s always getting changed too) and Ben Lyon is the bootlegger (who arranges for Gable/s murder at the end… and isn’t punished). Some funny dialogue and a bitsy plot.

Radio review – Suspense – “One Hundred to Dark” (1947) **

Starring “some of the finest radio actors in the country” which means they didn’t get a Hollywood star – unless you count Howard Duff, who is in the lead. It’s a different sort of story – a bunch of writers are gathered around talking about finite stories you can do, and one tells a locked room mystery. It lacks the emotional kick of the best of this series, though.

Movie review – “Which Way to the Front?” (1970) **

Jerry Lewis’ last released feature film for over a decade and to be blunt it’s no wonder. He plays a millionaire who is bored with life so is almost pleased to be drafted – why have him bored? Why not interested? It would make what happens next easier to understand – he’s so insulted about being ruled 4F that he decides to form his own private army to fight Hitler with some fellow 4-F’ers. That’s actually not a bad idea for a film, but the movie suffers for being too true – he waltzes over and breaks through US lines in Italy to impersonate General Kesselring, a real general, causing the Germans to retreat and taking part in the plot to assassinate Hitler. It feels vaguely insulting that it's so easy for Lewis' character and his mates when you're aware that this was a real battle with real deaths.

There's a really long pre-credit sequence; Lewis' team wear some groovy blue skivvies which feel like they've been left over from Gerry Anderson science fiction shows; among his team is a black soldier - who we're meant to accept the Germans believe as a German driver (maybe there were some black soldiers fighting for the Axis in Europe... but as a driver for Kesselring?); some of the Germans are funny (eg the stupid U-boat captain, and a wisecracking Hitler... "Max who? Max no difference!"); a racist final section with Jerry impersonating a Japanese general (Lewis donned buckteeth and glasses to depict orientals a fair few times in his career); a supporting actor who looks like George W Bush.

Movie review – “Hook Line and Sinker” (1969) **

Jerry Lewis rarely played a family man – this may have been the first time he did – so it gives this otherwise undistinguished comedy some novelty. But he’s not much of a family man: he’s an insurance worker who is told he has a terminal illness, so he goes off on a fishing trip, racking up major bills on his credit cards. Then his doctor (Peter Lawford) tells him he’s not going to die, but should fake his death to get out of debt.
There’s a decent film lurking inside here somewhere, but the current plot is riddled with holes – he doesn’t seem to care about his kids, or his wife (Anne Francis), so when he finds out the doctor and wife are in cahoots, you don’t really care. Also we find out about the betrayal too late. There's some funny bits like Jerry pretending to be an Australian sheep farmer, and some decent slapstick, but generally this is poor, and throws away ideas and opportunities wholesale.

Movie review – “Wait Until Dark” (1967) ***1/2

All writers should have careers like Frederick Knott – apparently he made enough money out of two hit plays to not have to work, which perhaps explains why he wasn’t that prolific. His first big hit was Dial M for Murder, which ran forever; this was his second – not as big a success but still highly popular. Like Dial M it’s got a bright central idea, and lots of well-thought-out-if-slightly-convoluted plot.
Basically it’s about a blind lady at home unaware the doll her husband has mistakenly come into possession of is full of heroin. I’m surprised Knott didn’t use the husband as a baddie but there you go; there’s an impressive trilogy of villains: Richard Crenna, Jack Weston, and Alan Arkin. Arkin over-acts with a dodgy accent, but Audrey Hepburn is a terrific heroine. 50s/60s ken doll Effrem Zimbalist Jnr plays her hubby. Memorable climax when Arkin takes on Hepburn, efficient direction from Terence Young.

Radio review – Lux – “My Six Convicts” (1952) **

Adaptation of one of a series of low budget movies made by Stanley Kramer at Columbia. This one is about a shrink who goes to work at a prison. There’s some lame comedy about the crooks being colourful, a bit of drama with the shrink figuring out “the secret” of why one of them went bad, and a prison escape at the end which brings in some much needed excitement. It doesn’t really hit the mark – although based on a autobiographical novel it doesn’t feel true, and doesn’t really work as drama. Dana Andrews plays the shrink and I found it amusing to try and guess if he was drunk when performing this. Some guy called Millard Mitchell gets top billing as a crook – I hadn’t heard of him, so gave him a google; he was a regarded character actor who died in 1953.

Radio review – Lux – “A Man to Remember” (1939) ***

There’s some irony with die hard conservative Cecil B de Mille introducing a very socialist medial drama (written by Dalton Trumbo). Some person called Bob Burns plays the small town doctor whose life is devoted to helping the less fortunate and blackmailing the rich townsfolk into providing for a hospital. The villains – town merchants who try to get out of paying bills and don’t really care about the health of people – remain effective and give this piece real teeth.
Anita Louise plays the doctor’s adopted daughter who marries the doctor’s son – which is a little incestuous. Burns must have been a folksy radio star because he drones on at the end about his cows and kinfolk in a practised way.

Book review – “Words Into Image” by Terry Sanders

Transcript of a series of interviews with top screenwriters – William Goldman, Eleanor Perry, Carl Foreman, Robert Towne, Neil Simon. Done around the same time as John Brady’s Craft of the Screenwriter so there is some cross over. Perry’s interview was fascinating – I loved the bit where she talks about trying to get a job adapting The Lonely Lady going “I promise I won’t have integrity”. She died in 1981. I enjoyed hearing from Foreman, who has some very impressive writing credits – he comes across as a bit self important at times, but clever.

Book review – “The Craft of Screenwriting” by John Brady

Superb collection of interviews with some of the best screenwriters in the business: Neil Simon, Paddy Chayefsky, Robert Towne, William Goldman, Ernest Lehman, Paul Schrader. It was published in 1982, which means there’s some poignancy – Chayefsky died not that long after his interview, Simon has just produced his first film (a career that didn’t last), Towne was about to embark on Personal Best. Full of great tips and insights eg Towne – the only way to learn screenwriting is to see your work done; Chayefsky – when you get feedback from artists it’s about the work, not the art. Brady is a brilliant interviewer – he’s always prepared and he knows his stuff.

TV review - "Law and Order" – Season 13 (2002-03) ***1/2

This season saw the addition of a new character, Fred Dalton Thompson as a right wing Southern DA. I can guess why they wanted to do it, especially in the immediate September 11 world, but he’s a bit annoying – going on about how he doesn’t like Roe v Wade for constitutional reasons rather than religious (yeah right) and being dodgy politically. It does make for a few strong scenes where he clashes with Serena – but this tends to cut Jack’s balls off since Jack is already right wing.

Guest stars include Mandy Patinkin, Andrew McCarthy (excellent as a cocky defense lawyer – his part is too small), a very sexy Spanish chick, Gregory Hines and Lisa Eicchorn. A decent, reasonably strong season with some fresh takes (eg the Michael Jackson case) along with the normal cheating husbands and the mentally disabled. There’s another pushy-parents-at-school-for-rich-kids one – maybe that was on the minds of the increasingly wealthy show runners. Serena is better (even if I’ll never like her as much as Jamie)

Radio review – TGA – “No Time for Comedy” (1947) ***

Frederick March and Florence Eldridge make an engaging lead duo in this adaptation of SN Behrman’s play. One of those Broadway comedies about successful playwrights married to glamorous stars who live in New York apartments with maids and are unfaithful in between the one liners. (Frank Rich once wrote a funny line about this play saying it's the sort of show that even if you haven't seen it before you feel as though it had.) 

The playwright is called “Gaylord” and the conceit is a married woman tries to persuade him to write serious stuff. That’s not a bad concept for a witty comedy – Sullivan’s Travels did a similar thing – and the playing is spirited. There were some things which didn’t sit right with me – like why shouldn’t he write something a bit more serious, and I couldn’t help feeling the wife was influenced by the fact she likes her husband to churn out decent parts. 

Still it’s done brightly and I liked it more than I thought I would.

Radio review – TGA – “Escape” (1947) **

George Sanders sounds a little different in this adaptation of John Galsworthy’s famous story – I’m used to hearing him speak in low, deep, caddish tones. Maybe he was trying to play against type here, even though the lead character is still an upper class type. A good deed sees him convicted of manslaughter, but he escapes and runs into various people – a pretty girl, some old duffer – who’ve all seem to have read about the case in his papers. I think at one time this was supposed to be considered profound – but I couldn’t see much more to it than being about someone who is on the run.

Radio review – Lux – “The Star” (1954) **1/2

This was a follow up vehicle for Bette Davis in the wake of her All About Eve success – she played another aging, temperamental star, albeit one whose career is in worse shape than Margot Channing’s. She’s in complete denial, desperate for a comeback part – she tries to borrow money off her sponging rellies and her ex husband, now a star, and finds true love from a stalker. Whoops, I mean honest mechanic who was a fan and so bails her out of gaol when she’s put in for a DD conviction. That’s just one not-very-realistic account of Hollywood stardom here – another is the screenwriter who comes along at the end and pitches to the star the idea of making a film about a fading star who doesn’t realise she’s fading. Post-modernism 50s style. But it does get points for a rather unflinching look at it’s lead character (based on Joan Crawford apparently – although surely Davis was an inspiration too). Bette Davis doesn’t repeat her role here – Ida Lupino steps in adequately (appropriate since Warners kept her as a Bette Davis back up).

Movie review – “Don’t Raise the Bridge Lower the River” (1968) *1/2

Jerry Lewis tries to revive his career with a move to swinging London and a new director (Jerry Paris) but the result is one of the dumbest movies of his career. He plays a man hooked on get rich quick schemes much to the annoyance of his wife (Jacqueline Pearce) – although he’s got enough money to run around the world. She gets annoyed so leaves him – he tries to get her back and make money at the same time. Patchy, idiotic, slow paced, not logical – not even Terry Thomas’ appearance in the cast can help.